Kidman to play 'female Indiana Jones'

Nicole Kidman to play female answer to Indiana Jones

Nicole Kidman is to play the female answer to Indiana Jones in a new Hollywood blockbuster.

The Australian actress, who was last week branded Hollywood’s most overpaid leading lady, will star in and produce The Eighth Wonder, a big budget action film.

According to its makers the film ‘will be to Raiders of the Lost Ark what the Bourne movies are to James Bond’.

Like the blockbuster series starring Harrison Ford, the plot – penned by the screenwirter of Mr and Mrs Smith and X-Men: The Last Stand - will revolve around an archaeological discovery which sparks a race across the world.

The 41-year-old star joins actresses including Angelina Jolie and Sigourney Weaver, who hit box office gold starring in the action franchises Tomb Raider and Alien respectively.

Kidman, 41, won an Oscar for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in the 2002 film The Hours. She will next be seen in the Baz Luhrman epic Australia.

She was recently named by Forbes magazine as Hollywood’s least bankable star, returning the least profit at the box office.